Ramona Shirley (Second Chances)
Name: Ramona Shirley Gender: Female Age: Seventeen School: P.J. Hobbs Senior High School Hobbies and Interests: '''Theatre, Soul Music (singing and listening), Cooking, Basketball, Jewellery and Jeweling '''Appearance: Ramona stands proud at 5'6" and 148 pounds, only slightly above average for her age. Her nose is slightly larger than normal, her ears pointy and sticking out, her eyes large and hazel, and large red lips contrast her chocolate skin. She styles a mop of black hair in a low-maintanance afro, styled with an old-fashioned bow, far from the only accessory on her body - she has two pearl earrings, a silver necklace, a stud in her belly button and an emerald studded finger ring from her grandmother. Ramona wears low-cost clothing, usually a white button-up top, navy jeans, and greying sneakers with frayed laces. Her face is usually made-up; light mascara, pink lipstick, and not too much in the way of acne or breakouts. She considers herself considerably lucky for that. On the day of the abduction, Ramona was wearing nothing out of the ordinary for herself, with a plain white button-up, blue navy jeans, and some sneakers hastily thrown on. She also brought a faded leather jacket along with her in case it got cold on the trip. Biography: Ramona Shirley was born the only child to Wayne and Linda Shirley, a psychologist and jeweller respectively. A lifelong Dentonite and Jerseyan, she grew up in a relatively middle-class home life, nothing relatively interesting or out of the ordinary happening during her childhood. Her parents never spoilt her nor punished her acting out too harshly, and she never had any trouble with the other students at her elementary school. She made plenty of friends in her younger years thanks to her knack for making things out of almost nothing - paper planes, fake jewellery out of leaves and such, and even some origami. Sometimes she'd never even need instructions or a manual, she'd just guess and hope she was right. Upon entering secondary school, Ramona began to experience the realities of life; not that she was too sheltered before, her friend group just happened to be pretty nice and her schoolwork enough to handle. For a while, she had to give up her hobbies such as crafting, since her parents made sure that she devoted most of her time to socialising and schoolwork. The other reality of life was that she wasn't perfect, and other girls tended to make fun of that - as a teenager, she was only slightly overweight, but the stick figures in the grades above her made sure to point out her plump figure as much as possible. Her parents would tell her she was fine the way she was, but fine wasn't good enough for Ramona. This young pre-teen girl wanted to be known among the school as something more, since thanks to the teasing she was simply known as "that overweight black girl who makes stuff". Ramona joined a variety of clubs and extra-curricular activities in the following years, starting with the ones that would help her well being. She joined the school basketball team when she was 13, and this, combined with a reasonable diet, allowed her to replace some of her childhood fat with muscle. On the Denton High School team, she isn't considered good enough to be a regular starter, but her cooperativeness and willingness to work with others means that she is most often brought in to play in the middle of a game as the backup point guard, working as a playmaker of sorts. She'd never get a perfect figure, but she came to accept her body. Her dieting also helped her discover a passion for cooking, and how she could help her body just by making sure the right stuff went into it. After a year or so, she decided to get her face out among the school by becoming a part of the well-renowned theatre group. It took a while to get used to the rigours of timing, projecting one's voice, and remembering line after line of dialogue, which made the basketball training she went through seem like child's play, but it was worth it - it helped Ramona discover her next passion: singing. She discovered she had a voice reminiscent of old soul singers such as Billie Holiday or Aretha Franklin after she was forced onto the spotlight by her theatre friends. However, Ramona has instead found herself personally drawn to some more youthful artists like Lauryn Hill and Queen Latifah, due to both some New Jersey pride, and a desire to show her friends that other musicians had come out of New Jersey other than Whitney Houston. After years of managing the balancing act that was her schoolwork, her clubs, and her social life, Ramona gradually began to regain her forgotten interest in jeweling. She started to watch her mother make the products she'd sell among the high-priced brands, and eventually started learning the art herself with her mother's tools. Nothing complicated or fancy, but little things for herself, such as her belly ring. She hoped she could one day learn the real art like her mother did, since it was something that made her happy over all of her other hobbies. Ramona had changed a lot since her entry into high-school - when she entered, she was teased a lot for her habits and her looks. Her friends used to be just people who liked her for what she made, not for who she was. She's come a long way since then, what with a large amount of friends amongst different social groups and a passion for a large variety of things, which included making people happy. Her marks couldn't be better, and even people who don't know her tend to not have anything bad to say about her. She now even has a part-time job as a waitress at Benson's to help save up for college funds, although it is definitely not something she would like to pursue in the future. To Ramona, life was as perfect as it could ever be. However, Ramona is not entirely sure what her next steps in life will be. While she has already been accepted to NJCU, Ramona still feels like she needs more time to decide exactly what she will be focusing on in her adult life, although she herself wants to do something based around Visual Arts and somesuch to become a jeweller like her mother. There is some tension in the household as her father wants her to take a more constructive course like Civil Engineering or Industrial Design, and this has been magnified in recent years, as Ramona grew older and Denton's economy shrunk. Ramona still looks forward to attending NJCU, but is more and more often dreaming about the day she can live without her parents. Advantages: Ramona isn't the most athletic of her peers, but her basketball training has given her stamina and better reflexes. She has a lot of assured allies amongst her grade, and her years spent in theatre group have allowed her the ability to adapt to most situations as well as spin stories. While not a mechanic by any means, Ramona can make the most of what she has, and has retained a knack for making objects out of lesser things. Disadvantages: An easy target, being bigger than most of her classmates, Ramona is well-known for not having a mean bone in her body, and as such an easy out in a blood sport such as this. Ramona has never really been one for the outdoors, and as such she's not used to outdoor environments foreign to her way of life. While she has built up her confidence and mental toughness significantly since the age of 13, Ramona still bears some mental wounds from her treatment then, and it is possible that in a high-stress situation like this that they may rise straight to the surface. Original Profile: '''Ramona Shirley (Virtua) '''Designated Number: Female Student No. 11 --- Designated Weapon: Furby Conclusion: Too bad all that soul is only going to get you to heaven faster than the rest of your classmates. The above biography is as written by Somersault. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made. Evaluations )]] Handled By: Somersault Kills: 'Zubin Wadia '''Killed By: 'Saachi Nidal 'Collected Weapons: '''Furby (designated weapon) '''Allies: 'Lyndi Thibodeaux, Felicia LaChapelle, Yumi Nunes, Maxwell Lombardi, Zubin Wadia 'Enemies: 'Saachi Nidal, Jay Harland '''Mid-game Evaluation: '''Ramona heard crying and rushed to it, it was Lyndi Thibodeaux slumped against a wall of the parish and Ramona ran to her, desperate to help a friend and not be alone with her own fear. Ramona tried to present herself in a confident and positive manner, as they hugged Lyndi recovered some of her nerve and began to talk over plans, thanking Ramona earnestly for being there for her. Ramona was determined, confident to be this figure of salvation to anyone who needed it, she agreed that they needed to stick together and have a plan, Ramona tried to keep her emotions under control and stay strong. They started by checking the church interior, Ramona led the way. They found Yumi Nunes and Felicia LaChapelle, Felicia confirmed they were welcome and they all began to talk, relieved for friendly faces. Suddenly their conversation was interrupted, Felicia's GPS picked up two more student signatures near the door. She went to investigate right around the corner, and Jay hurled a net on her, entangling her while Saachi charged with a cleaver. The people still inside heard the screams and all ran, Ramona preparing for a fight, but Lyndi was the first to make it to the danger scene. Lyndie tackled Saachi away from Felicia and Yumi and Ramona turned to trying to free Felicia from the net. Saachi lost her cleaver but called for Jay's help, and he snatched it up and attacked Lyndi, striking a fatal blow. Ramona saw Lyndi die and flew into a rage, attacking Jay and Saachi as well as she came to his aid. Ramona was subdued with a punch to the face and kick to the chest from the two of them, but not before she got a few good hits in as well. She tried to give chase as they fled but was too winded and pained, and instead she broke down as it sunk in that Lyndi had been killed. Yumi managed to free Felicia and after taking a few moments to regain their composure, they decided to do what they could to give Lyndi last respects, laying her in a flower bed and singing a hymn for her. The trio spent the night inside the church, stewing over what had happened. Ramona was still angry and somewhat vengeful, but at a loss for what to do. Felicia suggested staying inside the parish for another day, but Yumi refused and went off on her own before Ramona and Felicia could stop her. They followed, but fell behind and ended up searching the tunnels instead, where they encountered Maxwell Lombardi and Michael Crowe. Ramona was especially chagrined to see Maxwell, as he had been romantically involved with Lyndi, but she called out to them anyways. At the very least they seemed friendly, but they confirmed more people like Jasmine King had become violent, further prompting Ramona's desire to somehow stop the madness. As a group they began to hash something out, a plan of further action, but Maxwell's wounded arm began to flair up. Together with Zubin Wadia the group helped stitch the wound and clean and dress it, all while Maxwell insisted he had a plan. Michael would bounce after helping out, promising he'd return. Maxwell made the call to not wait, and Ramona decided moving was better than staying still so she followed, along with the others left. Day 2 led them to a tunnel exit near the cabin, where they found Yumi once more, the first good news in a while. They inspected the fight damaged cabin and eventually decided to stay for the night, a night Ramona did not experience happily, as she was haunted in the dead hours by her failures. The girls in the house could overhear the boys discussing an escape plan of sorts, all while Ramona itched for action. Eventually Maxwell called them over, as Zubin wanted to execute his plan, and Ramona believed that even a low odds chance was better than none. They drew lots, and Zubin drew the short straw, meaning he would be the test dummy. They put his head under an emergency blanket from Ramona's kit, and started to follow his plan of prying off the collars. Ramona was the one trusted with the job, but she failed and the collar detonated when she put it under stress. She had also been injured by the explosion, and she began to freak out, catatonic-like from the overwhelming emotions. Something snapped her out of it, however. Saachi was attacking Yumi, having rushed in to stop the escape attempt. Ramona tackled Saachi down while the other's escaped on her and Maxwell's respective orders. Saachi was able to wrestle her way off the ground with a well placed kick to the gut. Ramona fell back as Saachi taunted her, she wouldn't stand for it or for what Saachi represented, and rushed forward. The charge was clumsy and Saachi sidestepped it, embedding her cleaver in Ramona's gut. Ramona fell, in agony, but her spirit only strengthened in resolve, she held quiet and dignified defiance to her prompt end. '''Post-Game Evaluation: '''Leave it to the perpetual optimist to get the version collar kill through actions entirely under her control. This is your brain on idealism, kids. '''Memorable Quotes: ''"Honestly, don't know if I can just stay cooped up here. So many people we could help out there, right?"'' "Hokay, bitch, but this isn't about you. (...) This is about them." -- You being Saachi in their final duel, and 'them' being her friends, allies, and family. Other/Trivia Threads Below is a list of threads that contain Ramona, in chronological order. Memories of the Past: Pregame: *Torn Jeans and Prom Queens *Henshin My Style Second Chances V2: *PokeStop *Now This Looks Like A Job For Me, So Everybody... Just Follow Me *Hoping to Catch a Break Your Thoughts Whether you were a fellow handler in Second Chances or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Ramona Shirley. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here! Category:Characters Category:Second Chances Characters Category:Second Chances